He rejoined his companion.
"I am going to make a trial to overhear them, Harry, and it is
better that only one of us should be here. You go back to the inn,
and wait for me there."
"What are you going to do, Charlie?"
"I am going to throw a stone through the lower part of the window.
Then I shall hide. They will rush out, and when they can find no
one, they will conclude that the stone was thrown by some
mischievous boy going along the road. When all is quiet again I
will creep up to the window, and it will be hard if I don't manage
to learn something of what they are saying."
The plan was carried out, and Charlie, getting close up to the
window, threw a stone through one of the lowest of the little
diamond-shaped panes. He heard a loud exclamation of anger inside,
and then sprang away and hid himself at the other end of the
garden. A moment later he heard loud talking in the road, and a man
with a lantern came round to the window; but in a few minutes all
was quiet again, and Charlie cautiously made his way back to the
window, and crouched beneath it. He could hear plainly enough, now,
the talk going on within.
"What was I saying when that confounded stone interrupted us?"
"You were saying, captain, that you intended to have a week in
London, and then to stop the North coach.
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